JetBlue Staffing of the EMB's

[jetblue320]

Jetblue320,

I guess we did. I don't really know who is in charge of that, but somebody is probably getting a lashing, and it will be ready eventually. I believe it is thru Matsushista (SP?) and it will have a system that will not blank out when the aircraft turns. Also, we will have a SONG list, that each passenger can make (12 or so) so they can listen to the music they want to hear from an aircraft library of 40 albums etc.... That is pretty cool. And, the 757's are put on routes that cannot fail----like LGA to FLL and EWR to PBI. Come winter time they should be full, regardless of the TV situation. And, those passengers will not only have the flexibility to fly out of any of the three largest NYC airports (you guys cannot offer that), they also will get frequent flyer miles on three large airlines to go anywhere in the world. That really is huge, and those two facts are never mentioned by you or the others. I guess passengers are just dumb and don't care about flexibility of choice between airports and free trips around the world? I am waiting for your response.

You are right that we had to drop fares to LA etc. because you started and then later dropped most of your service. (That is B.S. that you left for other cities that were more profitable---that is twisting the truth around---you obviously couldn't sustain a profit from ATL---twisting the truth aint nice!!!) But, the planes we fly are big enough to spread out the costs, and until just after the war ended, alot of passengers weren't flying at all. We would rather take a full plane at a discount than a few high paying businessmen. Now we have both. Our walkup fares are lower thanks to you, but we have leaned out our company since 9-11---down 16,000 employees. We are making it work, and finding ways to make sure we get back to profitability. We do watch our debt, and we will have to pay that off for some time to come---but we will service it. Your LGB hub plans are really up to the LBG city council, and I don't think they want a lot more noise in that area. They are happy with your commitment--and your 40 or so slots will probably be it. As for your next hub, well---it won't be ATL or CVG---due to lack of space---so I will be interested to see where you go. Can you think of a city that is big enough to support a hub on its own (obviously JFK had a large encatchment area--western Long Island and Yonkers?), but where could it be?
The only places that have a lot of terminal space are COS (left open by Western Pacific), STL (thanks to AA chopping its schedule in half), BNA (AA again), and RDU (AA and Midway). Please enlighten me on other airports that could have the room necessary to advance your growth plans. Anybody?

Bye Bye--General Lee

Gee, didn't mean to get your goat THAT bad General, all I wanted to point out was that you had been going on and on about inflight live tv by October and that fact that now it isn't going to happen. I know YOU were excited about the whole entertainment package, but the fact is, DL advertised it for an October date, and it ain't gonna happen. That was my point. And then you went and (politely) called me a liar about the ATL-LGB routes. THAT wasn't very nice at all. I was only stating what I heard on the Conference Call (which can be heard by anyone of the public on our Investor Web Page). Blue Dude repeated the actual numbers in his post but for the record, I'll state it again in layman's terms. jetBlue did not reduce it flights from ATL-LGB because it was losing money. Believe it or not, that's your option.

And for the record, yes, I (and most of the other's at JB) DO believe what our corporate heads tell us. WE live the things we are told so we know them to be true, YOU just hear about it second hand. You believe everything Leo tells you, right?

Anyway, it wasn't a personal dart being thrown at you. I think you are a pretty dedicated DL guy, and I admire that. AN apology for calling me a liar (in a roundabout way) would be nice though. If you feel you are above that, no biggie.

See ya and Take Care.

 

[skirt]

Gee, didn't mean to get your goat THAT bad General, all I wanted to point out was that you had been going on and on about inflight live tv by October and that fact that now it isn't going to happen. I know YOU were excited about the whole entertainment package, but the fact is, DL advertised it for an October date, and it ain't gonna happen. That was my point.

When, oh when, will airlines learn that it is better to under-promise and over-deliver, rather than promise the stars and deliver the moon? That is one of the reasons JetBlue and Southwest have been successful, they don't promise what they can't deliver.

Song has gotten, and will continue to get, a bad rap because they can't deliver the TV they promised. Someday, I am sure, they will get TV. However, by then the consumers will be so jaded by bad promises that it will be hard to win them over. United does it all the time too, so Delta and Song are not alone with this strategy.

Sigh.

Skirt

 

[General Lee]

Jetblue320,

Well, I didn't really mean to call you a liar, and if you thought that--well, I am sorry. I just THOUGHT it sounded funny---and if an airline exec would pull an aircraft with an 83% load factor off a route (or two out of the three flights)--that would be nuts. But, I actually think we did the same things with our MD11's from our PDX hub a couple years ago. Supposedly we had full flights to Japan and Korea etc, but the bean counters in ATL thought the MD-11s could make more in Europe--and eventually closed the PDX hub. (Thank God ---SARS would have killed us even more) So, maybe your bean counters are doing the same as ours---looking for the most profitable route for each plane.


Skirt,

I know Delta promised the TV system and gizmos for Song, and obviously they were thinking ahead too fast. Maybe Matshista (SP?)--the maker of the system---promised Delta it would be ready sooner, and they were wrong. I am sure Delta would install it if they could, and I don't think they are false promises--I would think they are probably embarrassed. But, I think the system, along with the personal Song play list (which sounds cool) will be great once they do install it. With the Swissair technical glitch on the MD-11---I think they have to be careful about installing those new systems. Hopefully it will work and the gizmos will be neat. We shall see.

Bye Bye--General Lee

 

[jetblue320]

Jetblue320,

Well, I didn't really mean to call you a liar, and if you thought that--well, I am sorry. I just THOUGHT it sounded funny---and if an airline exec would pull an aircraft with an 83% load factor off a route (or two out of the three flights)--that would be nuts. But, I actually think we did the same things with our MD11's from our PDX hub a couple years ago. Supposedly we had full flights to Japan and Korea etc, but the bean counters in ATL thought the MD-11s could make more in Europe--and eventually closed the PDX hub. (Thank God ---SARS would have killed us even more) So, maybe your bean counters are doing the same as ours---looking for the most profitable route for each plane.


Bye Bye--General Lee

General,

Apology accepted.

And yes, it does seem a bit odd to pull out of that run to me too. I had gained from it personally because my in-laws (who are die hard ATL Deltoids FYI-Father In Law is a DL Flying Colonel if you remember what that is) were using that route non-rev to travel to our vacation home in Utah via LGB and I hated to see it go away. But, I guess the dollar rules, as it should. As you know, the decision to drop the ATL-LGB to once a day was in exchange for FLL-LGB and soon ATL-OAK. The slot thing played a part and yadda yadda yadda. Remember, unlike DL, we don't have the luxury of a large fleet of planes to jook to and fro, so we have to get the most bang for our buck as we grow. It's not my place to second guess my bosses. They have a pretty good track record so far, even you will admit that I am sure.

Anyway, thanks again for the "I'm Sorry" and take care.

Have a good weekend.

 

[colorado418]

Jetblue320,

I just THOUGHT it sounded funny---and if an airline exec would pull an aircraft with an 83% load factor off a route (or two out of the three flights)--that would be nuts.

Unless there is a route that will yield a higher load factor. Just got an email from the chief pilot. He mentioned that David was talking in a pocket session today. Basically David Neeleman comes over to JFK and they set up an informal meeting of Q and A for about 2 hours. Great to have that kind of access to the top execs in the company. The serve free food and Blue kool-aide. Quite tasty...


Any how, to the point. David mentioned that so far we have had a great summer and that August was looking good as well with company load factors in the high 90's...

For that matter, in the past couple of weeks, I think that a load in the 140's has been the lowest I have carried. Mostly in the high 150's out of 162...

Maybe it is not so crazy to pull out of a 83% load factor market...

I just fly 'em...

 

[General Lee]

Colorado418,

Our bean counters do the same thing--sometimes they are sooooo tight that they could swallow a piece of coal and $hit a diamond. The only way we are different is that we have a lot more aircraft types (which can be good AND BAD)--and that means flexibility on routes. The bad part occurs when they put an RJ on the route (with a different group of pilots....) or the large amount of spare parts needed when having more than one type aircraft (a la Southwest and the 737s). But, as you said, I just fly the trips in the bid packet.....

I am sure you guys are doing well this summer, and our loads have been full too. I think we are still working on our overall costs to become profitable again, and I am glad we made a profit (with the Gov't money--it helped)---which is a good thing. Look what happened at AA (a $75 million loss after the Gov't help) and UAL's $626 million loss total. I hope we all get better soon, and I am sure you guys will continue to be successful. Let's hope SONG eventually gives you some good competition. (I had to put that in there)

Bye Bye--General Lee

 

[govisual]

Put an RJ on the route.....
Suddenly Delta is making a dime rather than losing a dollar, contributing to the overall income (not expense) package that pays your paycheck and you complain. I sincerely doubt the Jetblue pilot will file a similar complaint when they put a smaller plane on a route. Or argue w/ the pilot that is flying that airplane, but rather think of them as a company and pilot family contributing to a company's success that pays everyone's paycheck and ensures future job security with a great company.
Makes you wonder why your "loads have been full"....might have to do with that RJ.

 

[Blue Dude]

Of course, and getting back to the original topic, those smaller aircraft at JetBlue will be flown by JetBlue pilots, not pilots from JetBlue Express, JetBlue Connection, or any other JetBlue codeshare partner. That makes all the difference, and it's the reason why you won't ever hear a JetBlue pilot complain about which aircraft is on which route. But if I saw more and more flights being operated by another pilot group, I'd have heartburn too, even if it did contribute to the bottom line. Maybe that's selfish of me, but there it is. I completely understand where Gen. Lee is coming from.

 

[govisual]

The primary difference here is that the pilots ultimately paid by JBLU will operate the flights on one list.........whereas the pilots ultimately paid by DAL will be fragmented out to separate lists and separate companies, and even contributing to other companies stock prices and revenue. Why should we even have to sit here and discuss "other pilot groups"? Management loves discussing it, and we seem to give them the words... It's a crying shame that employee groups offering essentially the same services can't get along well enough to come together just one time to change a huge aspect of the companies future as well the employee's future. What causes me heartburn is that the reason we have this discussion is because we have separate pilot groups.....I'm sure you do, but consider yourself blessed that your management doesn't encourage this behavior, and, more imporantly, your pilot group (fortunately not "groups") doesn't further encourage it. Fraternally Bye Bye,
govisual